Nail guns or power nailers are known in the home improvement industry and are useful for accelerating the nailing process. The most common power nailers are pneumatic nailers, which are powered by air pressure from a compressor. When a nail is fired, a valve opens in the tool and compressed air fills a cylinder. A piston in the cylinder moves rapidly, driving a nail in front of it into the material at the tip of the nailer. When the piston fully extends, the air from the compressor is released from the tool through an exhaust vent. The piston recoils while another nail is loaded. Another type of Nailer is a cordless nailer, which is similar to a pneumatic nailer but uses a flammable gas, instead of air, to drive the nail.
Power nailers can be used in virtually any type of construction. Some models are designed for use in tight spaces, while others are large and powerful for high demand applications. Framing nailers are designed for fast high-powered work in fastening large pieces of material. Finish nailers are lighter weight, used for furniture, cabinets, trim and molding. Staplers, tackers and brad nailers are also lightweight, used for precision work. Roofing nailers are specifically designed to apply roof shingles.
Two basic types of nailers are widely used today. They vary based on their magazine style and the nails they use. Stick style nailers use nails that are collated, or held together, by strips of paper, plastic or thin wire. These nails form a long slender “stick” that slides into an oblong magazine on the tool. Nails sticks typically vary in length from 20-100 or more nails. Coil style nailers use long, flexible strings of nails joined with wires. The nails are stored in a round magazine on the tool. The magazine rolls the string of nails, allowing as many as 300 nails to be loaded at a time.
Stud finders have been used to identify the location of studs and joists behind drywall. Nails are preferably inserted into studs instead of into drywall alone in order to provide better support for the article being nailed or hung from the nail.
Stud finders are typically hand-held, box-like units that use changes in capacitance to sense the location of a stud within a wall. When the plate inside the stud finder is positioned over drywall, it will sense one dielectric constant, but when it is over a stud, the dielectric constant is different. It works on a capacitance differential generated by density difference. The circuit in the stud finder can sense the change and reports it on its display. Stud finding circuits are known in the art.
Stud finders are typically calibrated at a location on the wall where the user knows that a stud is not present. In order to calibrate the stud finder, the user places the stud finder against the drywall and senses a wall density, which is registered internally within the device as a capacitance. When a stud is not present, the density will be lower and a capacitance reading that is taken by the stud finder will be lower. Once a stud finder is calibrated at a non-stud location, the stud finder may be slid across a wall until it encounters an area of higher density. The area of high density represents the location of a stud, which the stud finder will identify by a higher capacitance reading. Once a stud has been located, the stud finder sends a signal to a user.
Typical signals that are used by stud finders include LED lights and noise, such as a beeping noise. For example, some stud finders will register a green LED color when no stud is present and a red LED color when a stud is present. Some stud finders will beep at a slower pace until they encounter a stud, at which point the beeping will increase in speed. Other signaling techniques, or a combination of the above, have also been used. Once a stud has been located, the user can nail directly into a stud.